One of my roommates, Krisztina, the Hungarian, has invited me to go with her friends to Cambridge. Krisztina and I left the house at eight this morning, walked to Gyorgyi's house, and she drove us to Hatfield to pick up Heni. So here I am, the only American among three boisterous Hungarian women. And it's a gloriously sunny day! The first thing we do is tour the famous University, which I found out is actually comprised of three smaller universities--St. John's, St. Katherine's, and Trinity. The only one we tour is St. John's, and we aren't permitted to go inside any of them. It's sooo beautiful! The elegance of the architecture, the heavy columns, the intricate stonework, the statues of saints. It feels like we're on the grounds of an ancient castle! The Cam River winds ... read more

Oh. My. God. These are the ROWDIEST students I've ever seen in my life. I'm trying to establish rules, but they won't even sit down and shut up long enough to hear them. I can't put the whole class in detention. THEY WON'T LISTEN TO ME! They make fun of my accent, in a malicious way. Which doesn't hurt my feelings or anything, but when 4 kids mimic what I've just said, and they repeat it over and over, laughing and laughing, and everyone is laughing....it's hard for me to get the class back on track. It's just a big disruption. One girl said, "I'm going to have you sacked! Then you'll really cry!" Another said, "Why did you even come here? Why don't you just go back to America!" Plus half the kids don't know ... read more

Rather than hastily jumping into the lease on that fantastic room in St. Albans, I take the landlady's advice and "have a think on it." I don't know why I agree to think about it when I know for a fact that I'll be just as excited about tomorrow as I am right now. But the uncomfortable look on the landlady's face when I was like, "I'll take it!" makes me think that maybe I'm being too rash. So I hop the train into London with excitement soaking my spine. I sit by the window and watch the countryside and towns go by. I feel anxious to see my city. Oh London! I've been waiting to see you for so long, and now here I come! LONDON Apparently, I have to get off at Kentish Town, ... read more

I need a phone! I arrive at the mall at 10 AM sharp to have my cell phone unlocked and practically shove it down the guy's throat, I'm so desperate for a phone. He tells me to come back in an hour. So I wander around the mall and buy some shampoo for curly hair and a straightening iron. (Hey, I'm a woman! I love wonderous variety!) I return impatiently to the cell phone stand, and the guy hooks up my phone to some computer and types in some codes or something. Ten minutes pass, and I can see something is going wrong, as the guy looks confused and keeps trying different things. It doesn't work. Baffled, he says, "I don't know why it's not unlocking." He calls another guy over, and they turn my ... read more

I'M FINALLY IN ENGLAND!! The flight from Nashville was good, though 7 hours long. I sat beside an old man with the most lovely British accent and kind, smiling eyes. He was funny in that British-humor sort of way. We chatted quite a bit about England and the States. He was now a resident of some obscure state like Wyoming. When night fell, he moved to the empty row in front of us so I could lie down across the seats. He joked, "It's been quite some time since I slept next to a young lady." The combination of his voice, his eyes, and his accent was so hypnotizing, I thought that if he was younger... I slept for probably 4 hours. Upon waking up, I saw on the plane's TV monitor that we were over ... read more